Compass No.16
Reframing nerves as excitement, how that impacts performance, and not over-optimizing healthy habits
Thought provoking quote
“The science is clear: it is possible to talk your gut into changing anxiety into excitement…People who were performing a nerve-racking mental arithmetic task in public were told to say out loud before they began either I feel anxious or I feel excited. Those who said the latter phrase not only shaped their confidence with these words and performed the arithmetic better, but they also made a Tiger-Woods-type positive interpretation of these sensations. They lowered their noradrenaline levels to nearer the sweet spot for optimal mental performance. Good performance makes us feel more confident, which inclines us to try again, and so on in a virtuous cycle.” (Ian Robertson from How Confidence Works: The New Science of Self-Belief)
Book insights that stayed with me
The Tiger Woods reference above refers to his comment, “I’ve always said the day I’m not nervous is the day I quit.”
In How Confidence Works, Trinity College psychology professor, Ian Robertson, breaks down the physiology of Woods’ comments and why his interpretation of those sensations matters:
“Woods says he needs to feel nervous - a mix of anxiety and anticipation - to play well, and there is a good scientific reason for this. When you feel nervous, your body prepares for action by making your heart pump more blood to your muscles. It coats your skin in sweat, quickens your breathing and deprioritizes digestion, causing your stomach to churn. The brain produces more of a chemical messenger called noradrenaline, which, in the right doses, synchronizes your brain functions to make it perform better. Too much of this chemical spoils this synchronization, as does too little, so there’s a sweet spot where you hit a zone of peak performance.”
Robertson’s point is that a critical predictor of our performance in nerve wracking situations is our belief about what those nerves will to do us. For the impact to be positive, we need to believe that those nerves will improve our performance rather than hinder it.
I actually tried this on the golf course this past weekend after hitting a succession of bad shots and getting increasingly tense and nervous (a common affliction when I’m playing in front of new people!). I finally hit a good one and my partner, John, asked me: What did you change that time? My response, “Before I hit, I mentally told myself that I was excited to be out here and that this shot would be a good one.”
Question inspired by a recent essay
Last week, I wrote about taking the space to reflect on underlying stress and anxiety when I’m otherwise doing all the right things (exercising, time outside, getting good sleep, etc).
“Healthy habits are incredibly important, but they can’t fix everything. I’m endeavoring to take the space in the moments when I’m doing all the right things to not optimize my sleep schedule further, and instead take a deep breath, and give myself the space to ask: What are you avoiding?”
In my experience resonates with you it might be time to ask yourself the same question!